Sarajevo Siege General to Serve Prison Sentence in Estonia

Bosnian Serb wartime general Dragomir Milosevic has been transferred to Estonia to serve a 29-year sentence for war crimes against civilians during the 1990s siege of Sarajevo.

A spokesperson for the United Nations tribunal in the Hague said Milosevic was transferred from the court's detention unit to Estonia's prison on Tuesday.

Milosevic commanded Bosnian Serb troops during the siege of the Bosnian capital from August 1994 until the end of the war a year later.

Troops under his command shelled the city and directed sniper fire at civilians as they lined up for food and water or went about their daily business.

The Hague-based war crimes tribunal convicted Milosevic in December of 2007 of crime against humanity and war crimes.

In November of the following year, appeals judges reduced his original sentence of 33 years by four years, saying there was no evidence that he directed shootings of civilians.

Milosevic is the second convict from the Balkan conflict serving his sentence in Estonia. Croatian Serb leader Milan Martic was transferred to a prison in the Baltic country in 2009 to serve his 35-year sentence for war crimes.

Milosevic, now 69, is no relation to the late Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic who died in 2006 during his own trial in the Hague.

War crimes suspects tried by the international tribunal are held in the U.N. detention unit in the Hague until they are sentenced and a host country is found where they can serve their sentence.